Rob’s Waterco☺ler

I recently unearthed my Winsor Newton handheld watercolor sketchbox and started falling in love with it all over again.  I have been through several fits of getting the colors I like to use for “Field Sketching” and this is the current result:

Cadmium Yellow                     Scarlet Red             French UltraMarine
Transparent Yellow                Alizirin Crimson    Winsor Blue red Shade

Permanent Green                    Raw Sienna              Raw Umber
Winsor Green Blue Shade    Burnt Sienna           Indigo

And I really like  to have my Escoda travel kolinsky sable brushes size 10, 6 and 2.

Below is a picture of the set up along with a color study using Burnt Sienna as the interest color in the middle and seeing how the other colors react to it.  Notice Transparent Yellow is completely eaten up by it and the difference between how the two blues react.  Note: CR stands for Cadmium Red but is really Scarlet as I have been trying to get away from the Cadmium’s of late.  The dollar bill is for size reference.  No you cannot have it

We went to North Carolina this weekend and while I was there I started work on a quick floral watercolor sketch. The background was done in Burnt Sienna and Ultramarine Blue, then washed with a very heavy coat of Rose Madder Genuine.
10×14 on Lana Watercolor Paper. Lots of very transparent yellow to make it glow
Rob

Tonight was the May 2008 MAG monthly membership meeting and we were treated to an exceptional demonstration by local portraiture artist, Patty McMahon Rice.  In under two hours Patty demonstrated how to do an under-painting on canvas which can serve as the tonal foundation or reference for the portrait.  Patty spent time and attention covering pitfalls, hard spots, techniques and anatomy critical for doing portraits in any medium.

Patty has regular classes in her Warrenton Virginia studio with the schedule posted on her website.

This event was video taped so check the video page in a few days and it will be posted.

Thanks Patty

Rob Burkhard
MAG Treasurer

Just got back from Colorado tonight.  It was a very busy three day trip and I only got this one painting done.  It was done completely on the airplane and I did not use a reference photo.  This is straight out of my imagination station.  I tried to visualize some of the beach houses I have seen in Waterlily, North Carolina, on the Currituck Sound.  This is not meant to be a replication or visualization of any place there.  I used it to create a mental image only.

I started with B pencil and very loosely sketched the basic shapes.  Next I went at the painting with very loose and wet techniques.  I then went back with a 6H pencil while the painting was still wet and shaded to add dimension.  Finally I added some very hard lines with a 6B pencil and signed it.

This was probably the most challenging painting I have done on and airplane.  First I was in a middle seat.  The lighting was horrible.  Finally, I had a very active lawyer sitting next to me who was actively working with hard copy file folders and we kept (politely) getting in each other’s way.  Despite all the challenges, I am very happy with the finished painting, albeit, worn out from the road.

Rob

I was going through my older artwork tonight and this one caught my eye.  It is 15 x 22 watercolor on 300lbs paper.  This was a turning point for me with watercolor medium.  I tried several new techniques here which helped me move on from my weak washes and uncontrasted earlier work.

The first thing that sets this painting apart is a very heavy use of Sepia for the intense darks.  This also started my use of Indigo Blue over Payne’s Gray for a period.  I also mixed my browns with blues and reds to produce more interesting color.  The splattering was a first.  Notice how conservative it is.  This is a very tight painting and I pained over each and every inch.  This took me a full week in 2006 and would likely take me 2 days today.  Today I would also approach the painting very differently compositionally and palette wise.

The question you have to ask yourself is not: ‘would I make a better painting’, rather ‘how would the paintings differ from each other’.  At the end of the day the progression of the artist is what matters.  The progression of the art is simply a by product.  The paintings may or may not be better than each other.  They should certainly be different.

I enjoy looking back and being able to learn from what I have done and then practice my progression each day in either drawing, sketching or painting. 

Rob